The seventh son of a seventh son, Cosmo Gordon Lang was born and raised in the Presbyterian manse at Fyvie in Aberdeenshire. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford, where he got a first in modern history and was president of the Oxford Union.
Abandoning a career in the law and politics, he enrolled in a theological college and entered the Church of England in 1890. He was first a curate in Leeds and then, in 1893, was appointed dean of divinity at Magdalen College, Oxford, and vicar of the university church, where he remained for three years. It was at about this time that he caught the eye of Queen Victoria, and he remained a friend and confidant of the royal family until the end of his life.
Lang soon rose even further, becoming bishop of Stepney in 1901 and, seven years later, archbishop of York at the age of only 44. In 1923, he preached the sermon at the wedding of the duke of York, George V's second son, at Westminster Abbey.
Lang, who was as much courtier as cleric, held a view of Christianity in which the monarchy, rather than the cross, stood centre stage as the symbol of the nation's faith. George V had already turned the House of Windsor into a monarchy of duty. Now Lang added a new responsibility: to have, or at least to appear to have, a perfect marriage. 'You cannot resolve that [your marriage] shall be happy,' he warned the couple. 'You can and will resolve that it shall be noble.' Or, in less elevated language: you will stick together come what may and never, ever divorce.
Pressure had been mounting since the turn of the 19th century to liberalise England's highly restrictive divorce laws. The strong opposition to this had been led by Lang in defence of Christian marriage – despite his own (probably non-practising) homosexuality. Now, with his marriage sermon, he enlisted the 'family monarchy' as a powerful ally in his campaign.
In 1928, two years after he baptised the future Elizabeth II, Lang reached the pinnacle of his career with his appointment as archbishop of Canterbury. He became an acknowledged leader in the House of Lords, supporting the proposed revision of the Book of Common Prayer in 1928.
Lang's involvement in the abdication crisis of 1936 is still debated. Supporters claim that he was not one of the main players in the affair. However, a BBC documentary in 2006 saw him as one of those who actively plotted to remove Edward from the throne. According to a review by Valerie Grove in The Times:
In the swift-moving days of December 1936, Edward VIII capitulated – not to the will of the people, but to the backroom plotting of a heavyweight trio: Cosmo Gordon Lang, the archbishop of Canterbury, the prime minister Stanley Baldwin and Geoffrey Dawson, the editor of The Times. They believed that Edward, with or without the woman he loved, would be a liability as king; and that poor, sad Bertie [the future George VI], who always toed the line, would be preferable. Wallis was a godsend to them.
It is generally believed that Lang's best years were before his accession to the archbishopric of Canterbury. By the time that he announced his resignation on 21 January 1942 – only the third archbishop to resign from, rather than die in, office in the 1,345-year history of the see – he was a spent force. Created Baron Lang of Lambeth by George VI, he died suddenly three years later, while on his way to a meeting of the trustees of the British Museum. As he lay dying on the pavement near Kew Gardens, his last words are said to have been: 'I must get to the station.'
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 Cosmo Cantaur steps down
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,917
1,849751-1,00.html
Article from Time magazine dated 2 February 1942, after Cosmo Lang resigned as archbishop of Canterbury.
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